The fashion industry is inevitably heading towards an aesthetic without genders or labels. The patterns and cuts of the garments are fluid and work on both the female silhouette and the male body. However, there is a difference in construction between men’s and women’s pieces that has not yet been resolved to this day: the position of the buttons.
This element appears as an ornamental accessory more than 4,000 years ago. Made from hand-carved shells in a circular or triangular shape, this primitive button was sewn to clothing as a brooch. Its usefulness did not come until 1885 when Heribert Bauer of Pforzheim designed a snap clasp and therefore the first button capable of fastening.
The buttonhole was created in the 13th century and it was then that this difference in the position of the buttons between men’s and women’s garments was born. In men’s fashion the row of buttons is historically shown on the right side while in the case of women’s clothing they are on the left.
There are many theories about the origin of this differentiation, however the most accepted is that in the past women wore dresses so heavy and voluminous that they needed a valet to get dressed. The maids fastened the buttons on their ladies’ garments and that is why the buttons were on the left to make their task easier.
The men, on the other hand, dressed themselves and their servants simply left their clothes folded and ready. Furthermore, in the case of men’s coats, it is believed that the buttons were placed on the right because the sword was also placed on this side. In this way, when drawing the sword it did not get tangled in the buttons.
